Tag - courts​

 
 

COURTS​

The plaintiff in the case against Mizuho Bank had sought about ¥33 million in damages, including wages he should have received.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 24, 2024
Mizuho ordered to pay ¥3.3 million to ex-employee over labor dispute
The bank had — citing problematic behavior — told him to stay home at reduced pay without any work for five years.
Mai Watanabe, who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri,” dated older men and swindled them out of money by telling them fictitious heartbreaking stories about herself to gain their sympathy.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 22, 2024
'Sugar Baby Riri' gets nine-year prison term over romance scam
The 25-year-old swindled three men out of ¥159 million, which she spent on a Kabukicho host she fell in love with.
Takuya Matsunaga reads a reply from Kozo Iizuka, imprisoned for killing Matsunaga's wife and daughter in 2019 in a high-profile accident in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district, at his home in Tokyo earlier this month.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 19, 2024
Five years after fatal Ikebukuro crash, bereaved man works to prevent repeat
A man plans to meet with the driver who accidentally killed his wife and young daughter, hoping to learn what went through the driver's mind.
A group of plaintiffs in a lawsuit demanding that they be recognized as Minamata disease patients hold a news conference in Niigata on Thursday following a ruling by the Niigata District Court.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 19, 2024
Japanese court orders damages over Niigata Minamata disease
Similar lawsuits have been filed at four district courts across the country.
A traditional Ainu preserved food called satchep (dried fish) is made at the government-run National Ainu Museum and Park, nicknamed Upopoy, in the town of Shiraoi, Hokkaido, in December.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2024
Japan court denies fishing rights to Ainu people
It was the first court decision on Indigenous rights related to Ainu people.
One of the lawyers representing a group of doctors suing Google told a news conference that the main purpose of the lawsuit is not to seek compensation but instead to raise awareness over various problems with the Google Maps system.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2024
In a first, Japan doctors sue Google over negative reviews on firm's map app
The suit is the first in Japan — and possibly the world — to target a platform rather than the individuals who posted the reviews, lawyers said.
Manga titles that have been uploaded onto Manga-Mura, a manga piracy website, on display in Tokyo in 2022
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2024
Manga piracy website operator ordered to pay ¥1.7 billion to publishers
Kadokawa, Shueisha and Shogakukan said they hoped the lawsuit would help deter other manga piracy site operators from uploading content illegally.
A bill on expanding legal support for crime victims clears the Lower House on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2024
Japan enacts bill to help crime victims
The bill to revise the comprehensive legal support law was approved unanimously at a plenary session of the House of Representatives.
A bill on joint custody passes during a Lower House plenary session in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 16, 2024
Bill allowing joint custody after divorce clears Japan's Lower House
The move would bring Japan closer to adopting a practice seen in other countries.
Two plaintiffs filed a lawsuit with Osaka District Court in hopes of sparking a wider discussion on the rights of death row prisoners.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 15, 2024
Death-row inmates' lawsuit targeting same-day notifications of executions dismissed
The judge said the plaintiffs' social standing — being death row inmates — doesn't allow them to avoid execution when they are notified.
A demonstration in front of a Nagoya court in 2020 before the appeal trial for a father accused of sexually assaulting his 19-year-old daughter. Sexual violence remains a widespread problem in Japan and one affecting many young victims.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 10, 2024
Landmark sexual violence survey reveals shocking data
Sexual violence remains a huge problem in Japan. Despite recent legal reforms, much more needs to be done to prevent crimes and protect victims.
The plaintiff argued that age and other specific restrictions for men for survivors' pensions violates the constitution.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 10, 2024
Lawsuit filed over gender gap in survivor's pension conditions
The plaintiff was rejected for the survivor pension due to being 49 years old at the time of his wife's death.
Lawyers representing families of former leprosy patients seeking damages from the state hold up signs in front of the Kumamoto District Court in June 2019 after winning the case.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 5, 2024
35% in Japan prejudiced against ex-leprosy patients: survey
The health ministry will consider necessary measures given the survey results.
Kiichi Okaguchi (right) walks to the parliament's Judge Impeachment Court in Tokyo in December.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 3, 2024
Impeachment court dismisses Japanese judge over social media posts
Kiichi Okaguchi has become the eighth judge dismissed in an impeachment trial in postwar Japan.
Residents of Fukui Prefecture who filed petitions to suspend aging nuclear reactors at two Kansai Electric Power plants in the prefecture hold up signs in front of the Fukui District Court in Fukui on Friday, criticizing the court's decision to reject the decisions as "unjust."
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 29, 2024
Court rejects petitions to halt aging Kansai electric reactors
Plaintiffs claimed that the design basis earthquake ground motions for the plants are unreasonably low, given past past earthquakes observed in Japan.
Hitoshi Matsumoto
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 28, 2024
Comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto's defamation trial kicks off
Identities of two women accusing the comedian of forcing them into having sex, as reported by Shukan Bunshun, becomes the focus on Day 1.
The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday sentenced a former teacher at a Tokyo cram school to two years in prison, suspended for five years, for secretly filming the girls attending the school.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 27, 2024
Ex-teacher at Tokyo cram school found guilty of secret filming
The teacher also sent some of the images to another former teacher from the same cram school, and posted the pictures on an online chat forum.
The head of the Unification Church's Japan branch has been fined for the group's refusal to answer some questions sent by the culture ministry.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 26, 2024
Unification Church fined for not answering government questions
The Tokyo District Court ordered the group to pay a fine of ¥100,000 for its refusal to answer some questions put to it by the culture ministry.
Plaintiffs and their lawyers on survivors benefits for same-sex partners smile after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of them on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 26, 2024
Same-sex partners should get spousal survivor benefits, Supreme Court rules
It is the first time the Supreme Court has reached a judgment on survivors benefits for crime victims who have same-sex partners.
Eri Nakaya, one of the plaintiffs who have appealed a high court ruling on same-sex marriage, speaks to reporters in Sapporo on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 25, 2024
Same-sex couples appeal Sapporo court ruling rejecting compensation
The court upheld a verdict that said nonrecognition of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional but rejected a claim for damages totaling ¥6 million.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores